southwark’s fairer future workforce strategy...southwark’s fairer future workforce strategy...

Southwark’s Fairer Future

workforce strategy 2017-2020

‘To develop the culture, skills, processes and management capability to

support a productive, motivated and high performing workforce.’

November 2016

Southwark’s workforce strategy V15.• southwark.gov.uk • Page 02

Foreword

Southwark residents deserve the very best from their council, and we need to keep up with the changing

ways they want to access our services. Modernising the way we manage our workforce, workplace and IT

is crucial if we are to respond to local needs, operate with reduced budgets, and keep up with changes in

the wider world.

For any organisation, its staff are its greatest asset, and this is particularly true for Southwark Council,

where so many of our staff deliver excellent frontline services to our residents every day. We know that

the majority of our staff think Southwark is a good place to work and are proud to work here,

understanding and respecting our values as an organisation. But we also know there are improvements

to be made. It’s also essential that if the council is going to be fit for the future, and operate effectively

with smaller budgets and growing demands, we need to make some changes to the way we support and

manage our workforce.

Our workforce strategy pulls together a clear plan for how we can provide staff across the council with a

more consistent experience, reduce bureaucracy and communicate to and between staff more effectively.

It recognises the need to recruit and retain good staff, and ensure we have the right staff, with the right

skills in the right jobs. It considers what those staff need to do their job well, to feel supported and to feel

part of a ‘One Southwark’ workforce. Crucially it sets out a plan for how we can help our staff offer our

residents what they want and need in a changing world, now and in the future.

Together with the workplace and IT strategies this strategy will help us to be fit for the future, and

transform how Southwark operates as a council, fulfilling our promise to modernise our council by

transforming where and how we work in order to better serve our customers.

Councillor Peter John

Leader of the Council

Gerri Scott

Strategic Director of Housing and Modernisation


Introduction

We are passionate about our Fairer Future promises to our residents to make Southwark a great place to

live and work. We want to deliver on these promises, so that means we’re also passionate about being a

great employer and offering an enjoyable place to work, and importantly a place where you can realise

your potential to make a difference to the people of Southwark.

The council and its workforce have undergone many changes in the past few years. The changing nature

of the world we work in and the challenges we face locally and nationally will mean we need to keep

looking at how we work and finding better and more cost effective ways to deliver our services.

There will be challenges and opportunities in all of this and we know that this continual change can be

unsettling for our workforce, but we want to make it exciting and rewarding. This is why the workforce

strategy includes a clear focus on ensuring that both new and existing staff have the skills, knowledge,

support, confidence and environment to thrive and develop.

This workforce strategy is to help us to put in place all of the essential elements needed to make sure that

our people can deliver our corporate plans and priorities for our borough and as one council.

What is it like to work at Southwark Council?


What could be done better?

Current state Southwark Council is deemed a good place to work. Staff are very proud of Southwark and its resilience

in protecting services during the last few years. The feedback is that it is an innovative, supportive,

enjoyable and interesting place to work. Staff feel that it is “exciting”, “dynamic” and “vibrant” with lots of

new things happening. They like that we are a council that “looks for solutions”, but some are worried that

we may soon overdo trying to get “more for less”.

In the latest Investors in People report it was found that ‘Ninety percent of the

people spoken to by the assessor say ‘Southwark is a great place to work’.

Many staff spoken to at all levels were clearly proud to work for Southwark with

what they see as a progressive council.

The workforce is certainly content with being a part

of Southwark Council, however in the Local

Government Association (LGA) peer review there

were also opportunities identified for improvement.

To maintain current morale and increase

productivity there will need to be a new workforce

strategy which will build the resilience of the

workforce to enable it to be fit for the future. As part

of the development of this strategy over 160 staff

were engaged with by the LGA.

Drivers for change

Restructure with a purpose

Staff understand the role that restructuring and voluntary redundancies play in saving money, but many

managers and staff are inevitably weary of the continual reviews and downsizing. Staff desire a strategic

vision for the structure of the organisation that is linked to workforce planning. This requires clearer

communication about changes, rather than simply reacting to staff requests or cost cutting measures.

Better communication Middle managers and staff at all levels feel that communication in the council

could be better. Greater consistency across the organisation and between the

different tiers of management is a focal point. This issue of inconsistency is

borne out by the staff survey. Sixty-five per cent of respondents indicated they

felt their line manager would listen to their ideas. However, only 44 per cent

indicated they have the opportunity to approach and engage with senior

managers and only 38 per cent felt they could be open and honest with senior

managers about relevant issues. Half of staff indicated they feel sufficiently informed about what is going

on within the council. Our current channels and methods are not reaching the desired audience and our

staff feel they don’t have the communication options open to effectively upwards manage their thoughts

and opinions.

74% of staff are proud to

work for the council

38% of staff felt they could be

open and honest


A ‘Southwark Manager’

One of the biggest issues for staff is the inconsistency in staff experience across the organisation. There

are lots of reports from managers and staff about how their experience of working at the council “depends

on who your manager is”. There is also a frustration that managers appear to be “technical experts” rather

than people managers. They focus on getting their job done and so are not fully responsible or

accountable for delivering services.

Better performance management

Interviews with managers indicated they feel actively discouraged from tackling underperformance or

behavioural issues due to the risk taken upon them and the council pursuing disciplinary measures.

Current disciplinary and capability processes can be a block to tackling these issues because they involve

long and complicated procedures that some managers don’t have time – or support from HR – to deal

with. Staff can see that those staff who are not working hard are ‘getting away with it’ and are

demotivated as a result. On top of this, many managers and staff reported frustration at the lack of time to

have one to one’s, and the bureaucracy of the appraisal system that seems to focus on short-term

targets, and not the development of the service or members of staff.

Effective recruitment

Many managers reported high levels of frustration with the current processes,

describing them as bureaucratic, old fashioned and extremely unresponsive

to business needs. Managers are unable to have the necessary input into

recruitment to get the skills and behaviours that they need. The processes

take an exceptional amount of time with limited success in finding suitable

candidates.

Learning needs

Although there is a wide range of learning activities being offered, there is not a great deal of evidence

from interviewed staff that there are assessments of individual learning styles, or that there are plans to

consider learning styles in future learning and development strategies: ‘Not everyone learns by e learning,

for some people it’s extremely inefficient but I suppose if it appears cheaper we will do it’.

There have been uncertainties about access to support for vocational qualifications with views that the

council does not have a comprehensive approach, i.e. above ILM. Whilst understandable with budget

constraints, some staff have commented that the inability to gain more qualifications may disadvantage

them against external applicants for posts in the future.

Future priorities for HR strategy?

In 2015-2016

34% of

recruitment projects had

5 or fewer applicants


Today in the life of…

We have looked at the type of work that people do in the council and have categorised people into four

distinct areas. This has been done to ensure their requirements are thought through and considered.

We have identified four types of employee:

• Fix

• Flex

• Free

• Front-line

Below are four examples of how these types of employee currently interact within the council.

‘Fix’ - staff whose job requires them to work in a fixed area in a specific location – so work primarily in

a customer service or administrative role (e.g. customer service centre, library, court, crematoria) and

need to have access to appropriate technology. They may have specific hours of working.

Lloyd has recently joined the council in a desk based job. Talking to his new

colleagues across the council he felt his interview was conducted very differently to

his peers. His manager was very enthusiastic about Southwark and creating a team

that will serve customers to the best of their ability, but it sounded like not all

managers were like this. Some colleagues told him they talked to their managers

once a week as they were often too engrained in doing work, rather than organising

and motivating their team. Lloyd was a little disappointed to hear there were so few

applicants to his role, but his manager assured him that he was a perfect fit.

‘Flex’ - staff work predominantly in an office location but use a wide variety of different work spaces in

that environment. They can also access home working and remote working from other sites and

locations. These staff have a lot of flexibility to balance their work and personal life demands.

Joyce is often on site and in the office on a single day and drives between locations.

Joyce used a carrot approach on what she felt was a demotivated team but after

many attempts she feels some enforcement is required. Joyce feels stretched to

manage the process of reporting behavioural issues to HR and doing her day job. A

team member is still less than six months into their new role and Joyce is concerned

that she will be told to give the employee more time to ‘settle in’ rather than an

escalation.

‘Free’ staff ‘spend the majority of time out of the office on the move, travelling around the borough or

working with clients and customers in their homes or properties. They will only come into office space

for meetings or a quick touchdown. They are often not constrained to normal core working hours.

Carmen spends a lot of time working out and about in the borough. With so much

time on the move Carmen often is separated from her peers that are primarily office

based. She only uses her line manager, who is helpful, as a point of contact,

Carmen would like another point of view on her development, but doesn’t know who

that would best be. It feels unfamiliar to Carmen to come back to a council building

for training.

Flex

Free

Fix


‘Front-Line’ staff work across the borough, they are the Southwark employees that our customers will

recognise and interact with. The majority of their time is spent on the move in Southwark, with the core

tools they need to complete their work. They can operate outside of business hours and will rarely need

to come and use council office space.

Joseph sees his supervisor every day but doesn’t interact with anyone else that is

senior at the council. He has talked to his manager about a horizontal career shift to

an office based job in the council, but neither has the time or understanding of how

to drive it much further. Joseph really appreciates doing the literacy training that is

provided in the hub’s training room.

Front-Line


9 staff

understand

how their

role benefits

Southwark

residents 10

Workforce vision

‘To develop the culture, skills, processes and management capability

to support a productive, motivated and high performing workforce’.’

We need to look at how we encourage and support our workforce as well as how they feel about working

for Southwark. We want to maintain Southwark Council as a great place to work but we also want to

ensure our workforce can be productive doing this as well. We don’t want our staff to feel tied by policies

that are in place but to be assured and knowledgeable about why they exist and the benefits they bring.

Consistent experiences of working for Southwark need to exist whether new or old, junior or senior.

While we have a vision for our future we shall not forget what has made our workforce so successful so

far. There are very clear organisational values within the council that are widely understood and shall

remain so moving into the future:

• Treating residents as if they were a valued member of our own family

• Being open, honest and accountable

• Spending money as if it were from our own pocket

• Working for everyone to realise their own potential

• Making Southwark a place to be proud of

Experiences in collating the Investors in People report found staff at various levels of the organisation can

recite these Fairer Future values in a way that, rather than just being words, demonstrates they know

what they are about and that they believe in them. The staff survey undertaken revealed that 74 percent

of respondents understand the council’s values. The way that the five values are clearly outlined and

made relevant and meaningful at Southwark helps enormously in this.

Scope

Outcomes from the workforce strategy should affect all employees of the council. The degree to which

each employee is affected will vary due to the current inconsistency of experiences at Southwark.

Partnership organisations do not come under the workforce strategy directly but clear connections and

working collaboration with them will be a goal to achieve through the modernisation of Southwark’s

current workforce.

Corporate back office, home working, and on-the-move workers should all find the same workforce

experience to be provided to them, albeit potentially in different methods.


Workforce design principles

In keeping with the existing Southwark values we have developed the following transformation design

principles which will inform and guide decisions over the next three years as this workforce strategy is

implemented.

As a time comes for change and modernisation we need to make sure that as we move from the status

quo all our decisions take into account the following design principles.

Consistency: Transformation of how we interact with our workforce leads to consistent

experience and improved understanding

Empowerment: Our workforce will be respected, valued, informed and well managed to be

happy, healthy and productive at work

Inclusive workforce: We will have a positive workplace where staff (new and old) can

work together, learn together and be curious and enthusiastic about new ways of doing their

work

Resident & partner centric: We will have agile and responsive ways of working that are

built around our residents and encourage us to work with partners to meet our challenges

Confident: Our managers will lead by example and demonstrate good behaviours and be

confident and prompt in developing them amongst staff

Exciting: Change needs to be exciting and anticipated by our employees

Southwark’s workforce strategy V15.• southwark.gov.uk •

Business needs and strategic

objectives We have identified eight priority business needs that we need to focus on. We have developed workforce

specific strategic objectives that outline what we want to achieve in order to satisfy each business need.

Reduced Costs

Review the

organisation design to

explore the possibility

of a flatter hierarchy

Understand the skills

roles and

organisational

structure required in a

modern digital

organisation

Collaboration

Staff understand the

matrix of teams within

the organisation and

what activities they

perform

Workforce to

collaborate closely with

IT and workspace to

deliver well-rounded

HR and talent

management

processes

Understand which

partnerships need to

be developed further

Digital by Design

Digitise HR services

where possible e.g.

team holiday logging

Implement processes

and incentives for

knowledge sharing,

innovation and

engagement

Utilise digital

recruitment channels

and increase volume

and quality of digital

career offerings

Inspiring Leadership

Our managers will lead

by example and

demonstrate good

behaviours and be

confident and prompt

in dealing with

unacceptable

behaviours

Leaders are

demonstrating the

change they want to

see

Behavioural Change

Our workforce will lead

by example and

demonstrate good

behaviours and be

honest, confident and

prompt in dealing with

unacceptable

behaviours

Drive personal

responsibility and self-

ownership of

professional

development through

results driven

performance

management and

managerial trust

Encourage our

managers to hold their

hands up and ask for

help when faced with a

challenging situation or

a skills/knowledge gap

Modern & Flexible

Define where flexible

working fits within roles

Introduce policies that

support agile,

responsive and flexible

ways of working

High Performance

Ensure subject matter

experts take ownership

for processes and

training guides

Develop e-learning

content

Make training material

intuitively accessible

updated and relevant

Simplify & Innovate

Managers and staff will

have the tools and

support to be

innovative, forward-

thinking and feel

empowered to take

ownership and make

bold decisions

Innovative thinking and

solution design is

valued, celebrated and

promoted throughout

the council


Deliverables

Making this strategy happen will be a joint effort between the council as an employer and the dedication,

quality and effort of our workforce. This strategy sets out our main priorities and describes what we will

do under these so that together we will make Southwark Council an even better place to work.

New ways of working

The promise

We recognise that when you work, where you work and how you work are hugely important factors in

enabling individuals to perform to their very best and deliver the outcomes we want from them. The

expectations and needs of our residents are constantly changing and we need to move with them; that

means we need to ensure relevant services are available when people need them, that we can work

productively and quickly with colleagues across the council and in other organisations, that we make the

best possible use of our buildings and that we have the right digital technology to make our employees’

jobs as efficient and rewarding as possible.

To achieve this, it is important that this workforce strategy operates in tandem with the council’s IT

strategy and workplace strategy. We want council employees to be able to make a difference every day

and to do that we need to build on what they have told us we are already good at, including flexible

working opportunities, and get better at things that have frustrated them, including digital technology.

The outcomes

• All staff will feel part of a ‘One Southwark’ workforce

• Staff will seek out opportunities to work collaboratively

• Managers will be encouraged to design flexibility into new jobs to provide the best possible

service to our residents

• Our workplaces will enable staff to do their best work and we will make the most efficient use of

our buildings

• We will equip staff with the technology and training they need to ensure a digital future for our

residents and our workforce

Recruitment and retention

The promise

We will develop an employee “brand” supported by effective recruitment and retention policies. We wil

introduce workforce planning so that as the council and our services evolve we have the right staff with

the right skills doing the right jobs. We will review and update the probationary stage of induction and on

boarding of new employees.

The outcomes

• The council is an attractive organisation for people starting their working life and 3% of our

workforce are apprentices or first level entrants each year

• We aim to fill 90% of vacant posts in three months, and make the best use of our recruitment

systems to make the process easier for applicants and managers


• We understand how the skills and experience of our workforce meet our

organisational needs and we will not lose staff before we are ready to let

them go

• We always attract, recruit and retain talented people who want to deliver

excellent public services

• We will sustain and increase the proportion of staff who say they are

proud to work for the council, which is 74%

Management and leadership

The promise

Our success in being a good employer and in delivering on our promises to our residents depends on the

support, energy and professionalism of our managers and leaders. We will therefore ensure our

managers and leaders have the knowledge, confidence and tools to support and develop staff, make fair

decisions, explain our work and are clear what it means to successfully deliver our services in Southwark.

Managers are provided materials and learning opportunities on how to lead their team through difficult

situations and scenarios. Leadership will actively review and coach reporting managers on more than an

annual review basis. Leadership are provided the time to make robust efforts to monitor all managers on

the implementation of their management objectives in line with what Southwark requires. This objective

should be part of the day job and not something that people get around to doing after accomplishment of

other aspects of their jobs. Leadership opportunities are available for all levels of staff to help bring

forward and identify Southwark’s next generation of leaders.

The outcomes

• Managers understand what it means to be a ‘Southwark Manager’ and that managing people is

the main thing they do, not something they have to ‘fit in’

• Managers and leaders always model the behaviours and actions that Southwark Council believes

so strongly in

• Managers and leaders at all levels have access to the tools, resources and information to allow

them to effectively manage and develop their teams and deliver excellent services in a changing

and challenging environment

Learning and development

The promise

We will create a workplace where you enjoy what you do and have opportunities to develop and share

your knowledge with others. Learning and development opportunities will always enable better

performance in your existing job and/or help you to progress within the council. The council will develop

alternative learning routes which are less formal than what the current programme and structure allows.

Career paths are drawn up for those that are in supporting roles, all the way through to becoming senior

members of staff. Those learning on the job from senior members of staff are recognised and home

working is managed to ensure they get maximum exposure to the relevant skills they need.

The outcomes

• Since we introduced the ILM qualification for our staff in 2014, 186 current staff members have

completed a qualification and 140 staff members are currently studying for one. We will continue

to offer staff opportunities for professional qualifications that help them to develop their skills to

support them in providing an excellent service to our community

Currently we have the

largest

apprenticeship

scheme across

London boroughs and

perform the best in

London for working

with small business

on apprenticeship

delivery


• There are clear and accessible career opportunities for all staff, with a particular focus on

ensuring the diversity of our workforce is represented at all levels of the organisation

• All staff have at least one learning and development opportunity per year that is consistent with

their personal ambitions for their career and supports service improvements

• Learning and development activities will clearly align with the strategic priorities of the council and

managers will enable and support effective learning and development in their teams

HR and management policies

The promise

Our HR and management policies will be a means to an end, not an end in themselves. We will therefore

only have policies and procedures that add value and improve our management practices which are fit for

the future.

The outcomes

• Policies and procedures are as short and easy to read as we can make them and support the

council to be a modern, agile, and performance driven organisation

• Policies and procedures promote a culture and provide a framework for managers to take

responsibility for managing their staff professionally and fairly

• Policies and procedures will support consistent outcomes for all staff where appropriate, but

recognise that the fair use of managerial discretion is sometimes necessary to take account of the

different needs of our workforce

• HR is valued in its important role of providing good information, advice and guidance to shape the

organisation and support managers and staff to do their jobs and deliver services well

• 90% of disciplinary panels are arranged within 30 calendar days

• We have a positive and constructive relationship with our trades unions that delivers outcomes for

our workforce which we both agree are beneficial and affordable

Pay and reward

The promise

Our most valued resource is our staff and we will therefore ensure that the rewards of working for

Southwark are attractive, modern, and relevant to the aspirations of our workforce. They will be fair to

both our employees and residents. Staff will understand the package of pay and benefits that applies to

their work and we will regularly review our offer to ensure fairness and value for money.

The outcomes

• Staff understand what they are paid and why they are paid it

• The employment package is consistent to where it needs to be but offers flexibility to be tailored

to meet different business or individual needs

• Staff will feel fairly rewarded for performing well

• Transparency of job evaluation and grading applied consistently across the organisation

• Positive and motivational feedback to all staff consistently

• Behaviourally based performance management

• We will continue to ensure our staff and contractors are paid the London Living Wage.


Equality and diversity

The promise

Southwark is hugely proud of our diverse and vibrant local community and we want to reflect this at all

levels within the council. We have talented, compassionate, and creative people in all of our communities

and workforce. We are determined to identify and remove any barriers preventing people from enjoying

the career they deserve within the council. We will ensure inclusiveness, respect and dignity for all of our

workers are key measures in all of the work we do.

The outcomes

• We have a diverse workforce at all levels of the council that is reflective of our

local communities and helps us to have a deeper understanding of residents’

needs and provides fairer and more accessible services

• We will create opportunities so that there are more BME staff in the more senior

levels at Southwark

• People talk positively about Southwark as a diverse and inclusive place to work.

We have zero tolerance of discrimination, harassment or victimisation in our

treatment of each other and in our management practices and decisions

• We will retain our Disability Confident Employer status

Job design and organisational structure

The promise

We will always ensure we have designed our structures and our jobs to deliver the best possible services

for local people and the most rewarding jobs for our staff to do. We will do this with the commitment to

support a One Council approach and have structures that support different parts of the council to work

well together. We will consult and involve staff and trades unions in shaping the organisational structure.

The outcomes

• The organisational structure is agile and responsive to the changing needs of public service

reform and working with partners to provide excellent public services

• Jobs are designed to maximise organisational effectiveness, empower the individual doing it and

make the work as interesting as possible

• We will continue to reduce our reliance on agency staff to no more than 4%

Wellbeing and engagement

The promise

We want our staff to enjoy coming to work and to do a brilliant job. For that we have to provide a working

environment that is welcoming, supportive, empowering, professional and safe. This is true for every

member of staff, no matter where you work or what level. We will therefore create a positive work

environment that will support staff in their physical and mental well-being. We want staff to know what is

going on and how it affects them as quickly as possible. So we will focus on telling them what they need

to know when they need to know it. And as part of a ‘One Southwark’ workforce, we will ensure

messages reach everyone irrespective of where they work or their access to IT. We also want staff to be

curious about what is going on outside of their own teams so we will encourage them to network and

share information with each other. One to one’s and appraisals are to be delivered consistently.

We have a diverse and

talented workforce that

mirrors the Southwark

community


Managers and staff at all levels will be reinforced to take ownership and read the information sent to

them, through the communications sent out and the importance of the information within them.

The outcomes

• Generally our staff are healthy with 6.6 days taken as sick leave per person, less than the London

borough average of 7.5 days, We will work further to reduce this

• We attained Investors in People gold in 2015. This is an excellent achievement which we are

proud of and will retain

• We have a culture of integrity, creativity, trust and independence where staff and their

contributions are understood and valued

• Staff talk positively about and are proud of their work, their team and the council and are

comfortable with the pace of change

• We achieved the middle level of the London Healthy Workplace Charter in March 2015 and will

continue to work towards excellence

• We have a safe and healthy working environment and practices that support a good work-life

balance

• Messages cascade simply and clearly and honestly from the top

• We will be a family friendly employer

• Promote good health in line with our public health priorities e.g. use of free access to swim and

gym boroughwide, giving up smoking, active travel

• Staff have opportunities to get involved in volunteering in the local community to use existing

skills and develop leadership

Success in the future state would look like…


Flex

Front-Line

Future state

Tomorrow in the life of…

By 2020 we anticipate that these employees will be able to work in the following types of way:

Lloyd has just finished his first week in his new desk based job at the Queens Road

campus. He had very consistent communication in the run up to his job offer. His

new line manager had several touch points with Lloyd throughout the recruitment

process. On accepting the offer Lloyd was on-boarded with a group of other new

employees. He enjoyed the community cohort aspect this created and that various

leaders from around the council came in to explain what their areas did and what

projects were currently ongoing. Lloyd was able to bring up that he had Microsoft

project skills from a previous role and he was connected by the new starter

facilitator to have a follow up meeting with a manager in Housing that needs help

on the matter.

Joyce is often seen cycling between the office and her project site. She has just had

a behavioural review meeting with one of her team. This was the first time Joyce

has done this but was reassured by the simple one pager HR policy on the steps

and escalations points of the behavioural review system. She explained honestly to

her team member exactly what the protocol is and pointed them toward the HR self-

serve site for information on disciplinary and probation policy, and how best to

develop and improve.

Carmen who is out and about in the borough, completes simple e-learning training

online. Her manager promptly gives feedback acknowledging the fact that Carmen

is taking on training. Carmen preferring to learn through others has set up a

webinar session with an advanced user of excel that helped lead a training session

she went to two months ago. This was one of the quota days a year that Carmen is

actively encouraged to take time to come to Southwark Council offices to upskill.

Being a front-line worker Joseph receives his 15-minute bi annual check-up from

his HR rep to see how he’s getting on. On the call he finds out more about the self-

serve portal that he can use to book holiday and review policies. Joseph can see

his upcoming annual review on the self-service portal and seeing that it clashes

with a holiday, asks his supervisor what would be a better date.

Free

Fix


Future Vision

To reiterate our workforce vision is to ‘develop the culture, skills, processes and management capability

to support a productive, motivated and high performing workforce’.

The workforce will feel they have been taken on a staged journey of consistent improvement culminating

in a visible shift of improvement come 2020. Our key drivers for change will become exemplar themes

throughout Southwark Council:

Restructure with a purpose

Pauses in restructuring exist until concrete corporate plans are finalised and a strategic review of

organisational workforce design is undertaken. Staff now can understand the strategic vision for the

structure of the organisation that’s linked to workforce planning. Clear communications are regularly sent

out about organisation discussion and the outputs are available for all to see. Staff can discuss where

Southwark is heading and organise their development to maintain their personal learning requirements

and those that Southwark will need in the future.

Better communication Channels to discuss ideas from junior to senior level are open. Forums for discussion are viewable by all

members of staff. There is the culture that what may be of interest to me could be of interest to someone

else. Sharing is done by default and does not lead to overloaded inboxes. Those that don’t have access

to a computer regularly have alternate ways to receive information from communication channels.

A ‘Southwark Manager’ Following a review of what it means to be a manager in Southwark there is a baseline level of

competency to be exhibited by managers within the council. Those that are below this are provided with

the time and tools to manage their staff to deliver services effectively. Championed ‘Southwark managers’

are used to mentor developing and upcoming managers into the organisation.

Better performance management

Senior leadership support managers in undertaking appropriate disciplinary decisions. They are willing to

take on the risk that comes associated with tackling underperformance and behavioural issues. Process

exists for monitoring performance of new starters and those making significant role changes, giving more

confidence in the decisions to appoint those individuals.

Effective recruitment

Those that have positions to fill in their team are in control to recruit within it. HR are set up to support and

review the process the manager wishes to pursue. Applicants for roles are looked at for similar positions

to minimise time of them potentially re-entering the recruitment process.

Learning needs

There are methods of learning available to all staff that suit them whether they are back office, a home

worker, or out and about. A range of options including peer mentoring, e-learning, and class room

sessions exist to fit in with an individual’s learning requirements. There are increased opportunities to do

external vocational training to allow staff to match the skills being developed by potential external

applicants.


Further information

For further information, please contact:

Emma Marinos

Director of Modernise [email protected]

020 7525 1791

Julie Foy

Head of Human Resources

[email protected]

020 7525 0472

Emily Nice

Head of Organisation Transformation

[email protected]

020 7525 0430

southwark’s fairer future workforce strategy...southwark’s fairer future workforce strategy...

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